Live rock seeding Dry Rock question?

JDK

New member
So I have started my new tank with dry rock and want to seed some coralline algae with a few really purpled up pieces of LR from my LFS. My question is this..... The whole point of starting the tank with dry rock was to avoid the unwanted pests of live rock. What can I do to remove all critters other than the coralline before adding it to my dry rock cycled tank (no life in it yet) ?

Can I do a Flatworm-exit dip in a 5 gallon bucket of the new live rock? Maybe even dip it in something like CoralRx or Lugols to remove anything before placing in the DT? reallly dont want anything in the tank other than coralline. Thanks

Any advice would be much appreciated!
 
I've heard you can do a Fresh water dip, then dip in Lugals, then freshwater, then tank. 20 seconds in each. I didn't do this, was a day late in finding out.
 
Thanks. I have some CoralRx on hand and the LFS has flatworm exit. Will have to look into the makeup of lugols and go from there.
 
If it's a new tank and youre worried about flatworms just add the rock and dose your tank with flatworm exit. You wont have livestock in it for a month, so controlling for pests will be easy.

Dont worry too much about pests if youre using mostly dry rock. You want all that bacteria etc from the rock to stay alive and help "seed" that dry rock.

Also! Don't expect coralline algae to start growing a lot for 6-7 months.
 
Im planning on using an old 10g tank sitting around and to a QT period for the couple pieces of LR I will seed my dry with. Just put it in and observe it for a few weeks, with a light over it to keep coraline alive.

A fresh water dip, Lugals, and flat worm exit won't do anything for aiptasia, majano's or other things. I would rather wait a few weeks to be sure nothing develops.

Im also a firm believer in waiting 6-7 months before adding any live stock to allow the dry rock to mature (with the exception of a couple snails after the cycle). I plan on using a shrimp to cycle and then tossing some dry food occationaly to help maintain the bacteria population.

HTH
 
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